Devon and Cornwall Police have received a complaint that an XL Bully dog puppy seized from a rescue centre was 'wrongly killed'. A vet has accused officers of destroying the dog without proper legal process.
The eight month old pup, called Esco, was cared for by Celandine Wood Animal Rescue in Wirral, Merseyside and rehomed before an ownership ban on the breed started, reports the Mirror. He was then taken to Animals in Distress in Devon and workers contacted police to determine if the animal was an XL Bully dog.
The i Newspaper reported it was then seized by the police a week later and put down. Celandine vet Sharon Williams claims she was denied the chance to save the animal by applying for ownership and using an exemption certificate, as the law allows.
She had hoped to take the pup back to her kennels on Merseyside to save him but says she was told he had already been euthanised. The Dangerous Dogs Act says no dog should be destroyed without the owner's disclaimer or a magistrates court order.
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She asked police if they had the required paperwork and claims she was told there was "no time" to check the information on dogs. Sharon claimed: "The sergeant verbally told me that he didn’t have time to follow up information on dogs and that he had too many dogs and too high a work load."
A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: “We have received a complaint which is currently waiting to be reviewed and therefore it would not be appropriate to comment at this time.”
Tens of thousands of XL Bully dogs are believed to be on Britain’s streets despite a ban being introduced on the breed. It has been illegal to own an XL Bully since February 1 unless the animal was registered beforehand.
A banned breeds register shows some 38,424 dogs were granted the £92 exemption to avoid being put down
Documents from the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show owners registered 55,000 of the dogs before the February 1 deadline for an exemption certificate. As of that date it is a criminal offence to own one of the animals without the document.
It follows restrictions which came into force at the end of last year, which mean the breed must now be kept on a lead and muzzled in public. Breeding, selling or abandoning the dogs also became illegal as of December 31.
Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said: "The ban on XL Bullies is now in place meaning it is illegal to own one of these dogs unless it has been registered. We have delivered our pledge to bring in this important measure to protect public safety, and we expect all XL Bully owners to comply with the strict conditions.”
